Fabrication is the method that best describs my making of sculpture. I combine and build elements into three-dimensional objects and somtimes installations. Installations are built in an environment that surrounds and engages the viewer’s physical space.

As an artist I enjoy creating both decorative and functional sculptural pieces from a range of materials including: steel, bronze, iron, wood, glass and stone. I often work with recycled materials giving new life, purpose and beauty to things others would consider trash. Basically, I work to eat and create to live. I don’t look for a deep meaning in my pieces. Instead I want them to be fun and pleasing to look at.

I want to evoke emotion from my photography. My goal is to make you pause, and say…”hmmm.” I want you to question the ordinary, the normal, the usual. Do you see the same thing as the next person?
Point of Interest: You sense the emptiness, but you feel slightly anxious. Curious about who used to live there. Or visit. What used to go on or still takes place there? You are a little scared, slightly spooked – all the while at peace…
…and then you hurry back to your vehicle, to a safer-feeling place.
Person: You wonder what he is thinking, feeling or looking at. Who loves him? Who does he love? Is he trying to find someone or someplace? Can you help? Should you even offer? Do they even want your assistance or pity…
…and then your cell phone rings and you go about your business.
Object: You notice a single glove, shoe or $20 bill just lying there. You wonder how it got there, who lost it, or was it put there on purpose? If lost, does the person realize it’s gone? Will they come back for it, or are they watching you to see if you will pick it up…
…and then you shrug your shoulders and continue on your personal mission.

Marissa Ballesteros is an artist currently living in Indianapolis, Indiana. She attended Herron School of Art and Design and will graduate in December 2018 with a BFA in Drawing and Illustration. In May 2018, she had her first group exhibition at the Garfield Park Arts Center. The theme of the exhibition was adventures, and she created concept art based on an original story. The pieces comprised of three characters and three environments from that story.
Moving forward, she is interested in creating concept art. She wants to explore how she can create original characters and environments that are engaging, dynamic, and unique. Her influences vary: fantasy books such as Harry Potter and A Game of Thrones, Greek and Egyptian mythology, historical figures, and illustrators such as Arthur Rackham, Lois van Baarle, and Wylie Beckert. Additionally, she wants to create original works that comment on issues pertaining to contemporary society through a fantastical point of view. She works in traditional and digital media. Her current goals include working on concept art for companies involved in film, video games, and animation and having original pieces shown in galleries.

My artist name is Copper. I chose this name only because I was using it as an 'alias' when I was hosting goth parties in the 90s. That is when I started drawing and painting. I signed those works Copper and so I have kept it even though it confuses people. I am also a DJ and go by the name Copper Top, which is another story for another day.
I am not a trained artist. My degree was in political science and history. I never even considered art until one day I decided in the 1990s I decided to draw a picture and showed it to my boyfriend. He said to 'give it up'. I hate those words so I kept going anyway. I continued drawing and eventually I moved into collage and painting. By the late 90s I was producing works which incorporated many styles and mediums. I had several small shows in the city in the early 2000's including The Bungalow in Broad Ripple and many coffee shops in the city.
In 2002 I decided to leave behind my art to pursuing DJing as my main creative outlet. I decided that someday, when I didn't want to DJ as much, I would come back to my art. I DJ'd all over the country and the world between 2002 and 2012. I released 6 licensed CDs which were distributed globally. All of this was done on small Indie labels here and in Germany. When I spin now from time to time I play a mix of industrial, psy trance, dark house, and techno.
In January 2012 I began to become serious about art again. I brought to it a new confidence in making my own rules. I was also deeply affected by 'The Occupy Movement'. I was an activist in my college days and worked on many humanitarian causes. I studied political economics and have always leaned to the left, although my current convictions have evolved since those days. I began to marry my concern for global political and environmental crises to my expression through art. I recently published a piece of prose in the Canadian art publication 'Adbusters' and strongly support everything that periodical hopes to accomplish for a better global future.
I also very much enjoy creating 'decorative art'. I do this to distract from my gloomy side. I love vintage kitsch and moreover mxing it with other surreal 'childish' decorative objects. I love making diorama. I love spanish and latino style art and am strongly influenced by it. I also enjoy completely remaking large objects like furniture. I have dabbled in painting, drawing, photography, collage, assemblage, sculpture. I hate making anything more than once. I constantly am looking for some new idea to bring to my art.

Dr. Barber is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance at Western Kentucky University. She has received IAC grants to perform with the Hot Jazz Preservation Society in Indiana State Parks, and to write and produce a new musical, Indiana Squirrel Stampede and two new children’s plays, The Elves and the Shoemaker and The Frog Prince. She has written many stage adaptations of fairy tales in the British panto style, which have been produced locally at the Minnetrista Faeries Sprites and Lights Festival (Muncie, IN), Nettle Creek Players (Hagerstown, IN) and IndyFringe (Indianapolis, IN). Two of her plays have won inclusion in the juried festival, DivaFest of Indianapolis: the ten-minute fable, Tamlane, and the one-act musical parody, Madwomen’s Late Nite Cabaret.
As a stage director, her experience ranges from opera to children’s theatre, directing outreach productions for the Bloomington Early Music Festival of Indiana, and the Marjorie Lawrence Opera Theatre in Carbondale, IL. Other directing credits include Working (American Heritage Theater Project, Portland, OR), Clue: The Musical (Farmland Dinner Theatre, Farmland, IN), and Guys and Dolls (Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY)
She has served as music director and choreographer for many schools and theatre companies in Oregon (American Heritage Theater Project, Cathedral School, Valley Catholic High School) and Indiana (Taylor Theatre, Muncie Civic Theatre, Monroe Central High School, Farmland Dinner Theatre), recently music directing Guys and Dolls at the Round Barn Theatre in Nappanee, IN, and choreographing The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at Western Kentucky University.
She is an AEA membership candidate, and has performed the role of “Berenice” in Cabaret Poe every October since 2009 with Q Artistry (Indianapolis, IN). She has played numerous roles in theatre and musical theatre productions in Canada and the United States, including Vancouver B.C.’s Theatre Under the Stars, Portland Oregon’s Northwest Classical Theatre Company, and Portland Center Stage. While in Portland, she co-founded the American Heritage Theater Project.

Stephen & Sherian Barnes are a husband and wife creative duo, whose passion for painting and art spurned them to start iSM2 Custom Design. iSM2 stands for “In Stephen & Sherian’s Mind”. Stephen & Sherian (iSM2) have been painting since 2007 together in Indianapolis, Indiana. We have been featured artists for serveral shows including RAW: natural born artist, 2016 Meet The Artist, 12×12 Athenaeum ArtSpace, JUSWILL: B.Yound Music, and many other shows. Stephen & Sherian are also a part of an artist group of aspiring black Indianapolis innovators called “WE ARE”. Lastly, we (iSM2 Custom Design) provide the highest quality of services and many useful types of art mediums which include but not limited to garment printing (t-shirts, hats and shoes, computer graphics & logo designs, and canvas-signs/banners!

Born in Southeastern Michigan, Teri takes her inspiration from the lakes and landscapes of her home state and from quilt makers, both in her family and beyond.
Teri often uses a minimalist approach in her paintings, depicting images at their most basic expressions of shape, color, and texture. The visual tension of rocky lake beds against sandy shores, man-made structures, and bright colored flowers figure prominently in her work.
Her paintings have been exhibited in the Indiana State Museum and collected nationally. They reside in the permanent collections of Eli Lilly, Franklin College, Wellpoint, Rush Shelby Energy, NPCA, and Community Hospital, and others. In 2007, she was chosen to be one of the featured artists for the Arts Council of Indianapolis’ BeIndypendent campaign kick-off and, in 2008, she was juried into the Indiana Artisan Program.

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Photography is a natural extension of my relationship with nature. I believe that to truly experience it, you must first become a part of it— a respectful guest—listening, watching, and learning. Only then can you earn the trust necessary to be present for a revealing moment of enlightenment. My photos seek to define that moment.

Chris Barton, MM, MT-BC, is an award-winning composer and performer. She began her musical career at age eight with a German concert pianist who pulled her students’ ears when mistakes were made! Despite the rough start, Chris has retained her love of music. As a board certified music therapist, she has worked in child and adolescent psychiatry, hospice settings, school programs for autistic and brain-injured children and private practice. She currently directs Central Canal Creative Arts Therapies in Indianapolis and primarily sees young children with autistic spectrum and speech and hearing disorders. Many of the children she works with have cochlear implants. She also works as a consultant to Advanced Bionics, a cochlear implant manufacturer.

Michael Bartosz is a photographer currently located in a small town in Central Indiana. This Chicago native studied Photography and Printmaking at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) from 1976 to 1980.

When I’m painting, I am not trying to represent my current reality. I want to create – not something new but someplace new. A world where colors and shapes are free.
Into these new worlds I infuse my own personal experience.
I am inspired by all painting styles but I am especially inspired by Abstract Expressionist and their freedom and mark making, the Romantics emphasis on sense and emotion and the Hudson River School and their use of luminism.
​The three dots that I use as my signature have a lot of meaning for me. They represent the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. They are the three stars that form the Belt of Orion also known as “The Three Sisters”.
​ And they form an ellipsis – ​In creative writing an ellipsis functions to indicate that the speaker has trailed off and left a sentence or thought unfinished…
Education:
Herron School of Art and Design

I own and operate a private practice in Painting Conservation. We adhere to the American Institute of Conservation’s Code of Ethics that requires documentation, photography, and reversibility of materials, executed in a professional manner. Conservation treatments can return your painting to near its original appearance. It is possible to repair punctures, tears, flaking paint, and discolored varnish layers. Paintings on canvas can be patched or lined to repair tears. Ground layers can be consolidated. Flaking, cupping, and cleaving paint can be reattached. Grime and discolored varnish can be removed. Panel paintings can be cleaned and the cracks repaired.

I am a Visual Artist as well as a Performance Artist. Visual media include Abstract on canvas, glass, wood, and others. I specialize in Paint Pouring Technique. I am an Instructor in the Pouring Technique. In Performance Arts, I am a professional actor, working in commercial and film, as well as live comedy, via Improv. I have performed Improv over 22 years in Indy, and am an available instructor.

Kool’s Bazaar (Kb) is the brainchild of young musical visionary, Richard Trotman and was formed in June of ’08. Kb is an extension of the jazz/fusion semi-cover band, Acoustic Red (aR) and was created out of a need for Trotman to exercise his musical freedom and break away from the constraints and limitations of solely instrumental music. As a creative artistic collective, Kb plays original, stylized fusion music with influences from jazz, blues, neo-soul, hip hop, trip hop, electronica, & acid jazz. Kb is a band that expresses and encompasses the theoretical, emotional, and aesthetic qualities of music, while staying true to its form. Conceptually, Kool’s Bazaar (Kb) is just like any other band. There is a lead vocalist, a keyboardist, bassist, and drummer that makes up its core. However, when you peel back the layers, you find a mix of complex artist(s) who are thoughtful and intentional about the ways in which they create and think about music. Imagine, one unified machine on the outside and when you pry the machine open, you see an abundance of knobs, wires, cords, sockets, and gears all controlled by tiny entities that work in harmony to produce the sound that you hear. Kb engineers sound in such a way that propels the social messages (present in the songs) to a place that can be felt and internalized by the audience.
During Kb’s live performances, they work to captivate mesmerize, and enchant the audience. They want to leave them walking away repeating lyrics to songs that fill them with purpose, challenge t

Beck is the founder, principal songwriter, percussionist and drummer for the original music group Dog Talk. He is also a freelance drummer and percussionist for many styles of music and enjoys songwriting for various projects and jingles.

Way back in 1995, I took a wheel throwing class in my last year as an undergrad. I loved it! But I didn’t get near another wheel all through graduate school or for the next decade as I built my career in conservation. Life was and continues to be crazy busy as I play with maps at work, get to travel for work and fun, garden, camp, play and dance with my wonderful husband and friends.
In 2011, I got back behind the wheel again. I was delighted to find wonderful little studio, Beech Grove Clayworks, that offered affordable pottery classes nearby. Since then, I’ve been a member of the studio and have been obsessively throwing pots ever since! I still take classes at the BGCW and help out at the studio. Then I spend all the extra hours I can kicking the wheel in my tiny studio tucked into the corner of my garage in the Fountain Square neighborhood of Indianapolis.

Originally from Kansas City, Missouri, Stephanie Beisel completed her BFA in Graphic Design and Illustration at Columbia College in Columbia, Missouri and her MFA in Printmaking at Herron School of Art and Design in Indianapolis, Indiana. She currently lives in Indianapolis.

Bell’s photographic subjects range from the natural world abstracted through the artist’s eye to thoughtful portraits of people and animals. Bell describes his subjects as the type of things to which people often do not pay attention.

My first published novel, Stacking in Rivertown, was purchased and edited in 1999 by Michael Korda, editor-in-chief of Simon & Schuster. It was released in 2000 and subsequently released in Australia and Israel.
In 2006, I teamed up with co-director Anna Lorentzon to create the feature documentary, Graphic Sexual Horror, about the shocking porn website Insex.com and how it was shut down through the use of the Patriot Act. Screening to sold-out audiences at Slamdance in 2009, it went on to screen at HotDocs Toronto, FantasiaFest Montreal, and many respected film festivals in Canada, Europe, and South America. Cinetic Rights Management purchased worldwied digital rights. Synapse Films purchased DVD rights.
Amazon.com released Graphic Sexual Horror in March 2010 for digital download and streaming. However, because of its use of highly controversial content, Amazon removed the movie from its listings within seven days. DVD released by Synapse Films Aug 10, 2010 was also censored, but the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAA) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) worked with Amazon to relist the title. Available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Toe Tag and other DVD websites. In 2015, IndieFlix will release the documentary on July 28.
The first 3 chapters of my most recent novel, Line of Battle, are available on my website, www.barbarabell.com, where you can also purchase my CD “The Bull is Blind.” Local artist Gordon Bonham and Gordon’s band are featured on the CD.
mp3’s of my songs can also be found at CDBaby, amazon.com, iTunes, and other distributors of music.
I am presently working on a novel, finishing a screenplay, and putting together a multi-media blog called crib in a crackhood that chronicles life in one of the poorer sections of Indianapolis.
www.barbarabell.com
www.graphicsexualhorror.com

Mac Bellner is a professional performer of folk music, focusing on traditional style music of Ireland, Scotland, England, and North America. She was born in a two room, tin roofed shack on a cotton farm in Louisiana and grew up in Mississippi and west Texas, cutting her musical teeth on Stamps-Baxter gospel and spiritual music as well as classic juke box country music.
But she discovered her main musical niche in folk music.
In addition to solo work, Mac regularly performs with Hogeye Navvy (www.hogeyenavvy.com) Celtic/North American folk band, with whom she has released 9 albums, and is a Teaching Artist with Arts For Learning of Indiana as part of the May Apple duo. In addition to touring in Ireland and Scotland with Hogeye Navvy, Mac has performed throughout the United States, in England, and South Africa.
Mac also is a teacher/caller for traditional American barn dance, English country dance, and Irish and Scottish ceilidh dance. She has called dances at festivals, for wedding receptions, and for school, public, church, and Scout events. The dances she calls have involved participants from pre-school age to elderly adults, as well as people with physical challenges. Among her favorite people to teach are those who are beginners and have never experienced traditional dancing before. Her repertoire includes traditional squares and circles, play-party dances, and contra/line set dances, all accompanied by live music. Many of the dances have interesting historical and cultural connections, which Mac shares as she introduces each one.

The process of my technique is that of obscuring images through a multitude of painted and varnished surfaces, collage materials and layers. The image is destroyed, obscured and then reactivated, thus suggesting the cycle and eroding power of time.
I am unconcerned about the explanation or easily extracted meaning of my work.
By not being immediately understandable, the content forces the viewer to participate in deciphering meaning for themselves.
Thus this way of seeing the act of creating has allowed my work to come to a place that does not simply deal with the reconstruction of an object for its own sake, but rather the mystifying and abstracting of personal meaning and symbolism.

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Disclaimer: The Arts Council of Indianapolis provides this database and website as a service to artists, arts organizations, and consumers alike. All information contained within the database and website was provided by the artists or arts organizations. No adjudication or selection process was used to develop this site or the artists and organizations featured. While the Arts Council of Indianapolis makes every effort to present accurate and reliable information on this site, it does not endorse, approve, or certify such information, nor does it guarantee the accuracy, completeness, efficacy, timeliness, or correct sequencing of such information.